RULES AND REGULATIONS

FOR THE CONDUCT AND JUDGING OF COMPETITION

THE TEXAS SHRINE CLOWN ASSOCIATION

 

 

ARTICLE I

INVITATION

 

Each member clown unit of the Texas Shrine Clown Association is urged to participate in competition, including the host temple unit.  The primary objective of competition is to promote friendly rivalry and good fellowship among clown units and to improve the quality of clowning by the units.  Each participating unit is assured that they will be allowed every courtesy and element of fair play.

 

ARTICLE II

CONDUCT OF COMPETITIONS

 

Section 1:      A copy of these rules and regulations and an announcement of the time and place of a judge's instruction meeting shall be e-mailed to each clown unit President (that pulled a number for competition at midwinter).  This information shall be sent at least thirty (30) days prior to the annual Texas Shrine Association Convention (usually held in June).  The same information shall be posted on the T.S.C.A. website.

 

Section 2:      If available from the Texas Shrine Association Director General, a diagram of the staging area and the parade route shall be e- mailed with the rules and regulations (Section 1).

 

Section 3:      During or prior to the judges' instruction meeting, each unit is required to certify by letter (signed by the Potentate or Recorder) to the Secretary of the Texas Shrine Clown Association that each competing of his unit is a member in good standing in his respective temple and in his own clown unit.  In addition, participating clowns must be officially registered for All-State with the TSA.

 

Section 4:      Clown units can compete in three (3) areas: makeup and costume (1 or more), group skits (any number of clowns) and group Paradability (1-5 members). Competition in the makeup and costume category will be scheduled immediately before the start of skit competition.  The skit category will begin after completions of the scoring of costume and make-up judging. Padadeability will follow skit competition. The judging starting times will be discussed at the judges meeting on Friday morning, during the judges instruction meeting. 

 

A.       Make-up and Costume: All members of a clown unit desiring to participate in this competition may do so as a whiteface, auguste, hobo-tramp or character.  All the clowns in a unit will be judged simultaneously.  Each unit will receive an overall score in this category, which will be used in conjunction with the scores earned in the other phases of competi­tion to determine the overall winning unit. The clowns' make-up and costume competition will be judged according to International Shrine Clown Asso­ciation (ISCA) rules.

 

         B.       Skit:

 

     1.  Each unit will be allowed a maximum of 1 minute to set up for the skit, 5 minutes for the skit, and 1 minute to clean up the area at the conclusion of the skit.

 

2.  The skit competition area shall be 40 by 40 feet, or as close to this size as possible.  Units will be notified prior to competition of skit area size.

 

     3.  Water may be used during the skits only if the skit area is covered and left clean and dry at the conclusion of the cleanup.

 

4.  With respect to explosions, any explosive device such as firecrackers, firearms, and blank cartridges shall be prohibited.  Use of unauthorized explosive devices shall result in disqualification.

 

5.  The First Vice-President shall be in charge of skit competition.  He shall assess a penalty of 1/2 point per judge for each time a skit participant steps outside the skit area and one penalty point for each 15 seconds or fraction thereof the time limits are exceeded for each time allotment.

 

6.  Scoring sheets for competition shall be as appended. The clown unit being scored should be circled.  Judges’ reasons for point downgrading, or awarding penalty points to a unit must be indicated on the scoring sheet.  Score sheets will be picked up after each unit has been judged per category.

 

7.  T.S.C.A. rules, except the requirement for a dais, shall be used for make-up judging.

 

     8.  Any unit member may assist in setting up for the skit.  They do not have to be in make-up or participate in other competition.

 

9.  All units and their equipment, except for the one putting on the skit, must be off to one side and well away from the skit performing area so as to not distract from the skit being presented.

 

10.  Any unit not completely cleaning the competition area (paper, etc.) shall be assessed a penalty of five points, to be taken from the total score averaging. The Second Vice-President shall have the responsibility to notify the performing unit of any impending infraction prior to 45 seconds of the one-minute cleanup time limit. 

 

           C.           Parade:

 

Any T.S.C.A. clown member or clown unit may participate in the TSA parade.  There will be no   scoring or awards given for parade activities.

 

 

Section 5: All clowns (units) shall abide by the following regulations and any additional regulations as may be imposed by the Imperial Council.

 

         A.     Acts or stunts shall not include any:

 

1.       Females or female impersonations.

2.       Representation of any nationality or race in ridicule.

3.       Electric canes, suitcase, or similar shocking devices.

4.       Water pistols or like squirting devices.

5.       Snakes or snakelike devices.

6.       Firecrackers or loud explosions.

7.      Sirens, emergency vehicle lights, or other objectionable devices.

8.      Throwing or handing candy, gum, souvenirs, or other items at or to the crowd.

9.       Use of any live animal or fowl, domestic or wild.

                      10.       Representation, which can in any way be construed as lewd, vulgar, or macabre.

 

         B.   Acts or stunts in the parade shall comply with the following:

 

1. Strive to be humorous, funny and entertaining to all, especially children.

2. Observe only forward marching movements; at no time during a parade shall clown movements cause a following unit in either the same temple or another temple mark time, halt, or cease forward progress.

3. Maintain a minimum of 5 feet of clearance between any motor vehicle.

4. Refrain from driving a motor vehicle in a hotel lobby or other building where motor vehicles are not customarily driven.

5. Assure public liability insurance coverage for any motor vehicle of any type used in connection with any Shrine Temple activity. The respective Temples' Potentate is to assure that insurance is kept in force.

6.     All participating units shall begin the parade at the staging areas and complete the parade route unless illness or unavoidable breakdown occurs.

                          7.   Clowns shall stay with their own temple unit.

 

D.              Paradeability:

 

1.     This can be (1 to 5 members of a unit).  Paradeabily is basically a slight gag.  An object or props using signs or vocal expression, which can bring laughter.  It can be anything, which can be worn, carried, pulled, pushed, or driven which does not require a set-up or tear down time. The clown (s) shall repeat the gag at least twice in one minute or the gag shall be considered a continuous gag.  Failure to repeat the gag. (If gag is not continuous) will require the deduction of ½ point per judge.

 

 

                                                     

 

Section 6:

 

A.   Scoring: Each of the three phases of competition will be scored independently with an overall first, second and third place winner in each category.  Judges will rate each unit for each event on a scale of 5 to 10.  A total of all the judges' scores will determine the order of finish for that event.

 

B.   To assign judges, seven eligible judges will be chosen for each competition category.  Judges for the make-up and costume will be chosen first, skit second, and paradeability third.  Each eligible judge must judge at least one category.  If a deficiency in the number of judges exists in any drawing category, names of judges not already drawn for that category will be resubmitted to the pool for drawing.

 

         C.   Scoring shall be without consultation among judging pairs.

 

D.   Results of the judging shall not be available until the awarding of the trophies, at the conclusion of the Hot Sands section of the ceremonial, unless the TSA Director General designates an alternate time and place.

 

E.      Copies of all tally sheets should be given to each competing unit during the awards ceremony.

 

 

ARTICLE III

JUDGING

 

A.     Quantity: One judge and one alternate.  Each competing unit must provide a judge, those eligible   judges to be President or Vice-President or, in their absence, an appointed designated Shriner from the

Competing Temple selected at the discretion of the competing unit. In that order.

 

B.   Eligibility: Each competing unit will provide its designated judge, to judge competition events.  In the event a unit will be disqualified from competition at T.S.A. by not supplying a competition judge. A vote will be taken at the unit meeting to supply a judge from another unit before disqualification. 

 

C.   Judges Instruction Meeting: The TSCA President shall invite the selected judges and all clown unit heads to meet for a judges meeting. This meeting is usually scheduled to take place following the clown breakfast and business meeting on Friday morning the first day of competition. During the judges general meeting, the selected judges and unit heads will review the regulations, starting times and the methods of awarding points. The TSCA President or his designated representative will instruct and answer the judge’s questions. To avoid conflicting statements and confusion, unit heads will offer any suggestions only through the instructor.

 

         D.   Judges Locations:

 

1. During the make-up and costume competition, all judges will be permitted to pass in front of, walk behind and observe all members of the unit participating.  Judges will not touch competing unit members.  All judges will complete their assignment and turn their ballots in before the next unit is presented for judging.

2. During the skit competition, the judges will be seated immediately in front of the stage to permit the best view of the entertainment and preclude interfering with participants.  The ballots from the judges will be collected after each unit performs and before the next unit goes on stage.

3. During the Paradeability competition the judges will be seated immediately in front of the stage area to permit the best view of the entertainment and preclude interfering with the participants.  Four judges will score the fist half of the gig and 3 judges will score the second half of the gig.  The TSCA President or his designated representative will select the judges to be first or second.

 

E.   Tallying of Points: At the conclusion of each competition, the TSCA President and his designated representative will tally the judge’s ballots.  To compute the scores, the high and the low scores by the judges will be deleted and the average will be computed on the remaining scores.  After each event, the units will be arranged in total score sequence with the unit receiving the highest total score being the winner of that event.  The procedure will be repeated for each competition category.  The total points earned by each unit in each phase of the competition will be added together.  The unit with the highest total will be the overall winner of the competition.  The unit with the second highest total will be given the second place award and the unit with the third highest total will be given the third place trophy.

 

 

 

 

 

Revised: August 15, 2009